By Dave Belcher
Moapa Valley Progress
| MVHS | 74 |
| Boulder City | 55 |
On Thursday night a quiet pirate crowd witnessed a quiet blow out of Boulder City. Quiet because Moapa trailed 34-35 at the half after having a slow 2nd quarter.
Boulder City down eight after the first quarter outscored the Pirates 25-16 and had the one point lead going into the locker room at half. Moapa stayed close due to the hot hand of Dakota Watters who scored 10 of the Pirates’ 16, which included two “3” balls. Nathan Hafen scored eleven for Boulder City in the quarter.
Moapa returned and turned up the defensive pressure allowing only six Boulder City points through the third.
Josh Thompson had 8 of Moapa’s 19 in helping build a 12 point lead entering the fourth.
The fourth started with an Eagle lay up. Moapa then went on a 13 point run highlighted by Lewis stealing the ball. He was fouled when he took the ball to the hoop. Boulder was assessed a technical foul for foul language. Nate Hafen followed with his version and agreement of his team mate and was given a technical too. It was an Eagle melt down.
Lewis made one of two free throws. Thompson then stepped up and knocked down four of four giving Moapa a 23 point lead with 4:20 remaining to go.
Boulder tried to recover but couldn’t and the Pirates’ came away with a 74-55 win earning a fourth game with the arch rival Dawgs on Saturday, February 19.
As a team Moapa connected on 10 “3” balls for the game. Josh Thompson had four himself as he led Moapa in scoring with 23 points.
Hayden Cooper had 16 points while Dakota Watters and Casen Lewis each finished with 13. The back court of the Pirates had 49 of the Pirates 74. Moapa was 18-27 from the charity stripe while Boulder City was 16-20.
Nathan Hafen had 19 points to lead the Eagles.
| MVHS | 47 |
| Virgin Valley | 37 |
High anxiety preceded the Saturday night Division basketball game against the Virgin Valley Bulldogs. “Can we beat them this time” seemed to be the cry from Moapa’s faithful.
It was an 8:30 tip when the ball went into the air, the beginning of the latest chapter in the oldest rivalry in the state.
Three previous games this season ended with the Bulldogs defeating the Pirates. This night however would lead to Bulldog heartaches and heartbreaks before it was finished. Virgin Valley held two leads in this game 2-0 and 5-2. That was it. Moapa led the rest of the game. The Pirate defense held Cameron Jensen to just 16 points as Virgin Valley surrendered to the curse of the Pirate again this year.
Josh Thompson led Moapa’s assault with 15 points. The Bulldogs had only three field goals in the whole second half and managed only 18 total points. The Moapa defense allowed only ten field goals on 44 attempts for the Dawgs. Virgin Valley was 12-15 from the line.
The Pirates led 13-7 after the first. Virgin Valley outscored the Pirates 12-7 in the 2nd quarter. Moapa had a 20-19 lead at the half.
This game was a defensive head-to-head battle all night. Jensen was pursued and hounded all game long by various Pirates. And Jensen was all the Dawgs really had.
The Moapa team, on the other hand, could get you from anywhere; having a well balanced attack.
Dakota Watters played huge from “3” ball land. When Moapa needed one he came through with the “3” ball. He had sunk three in the Boulder City game and took two more Saturday night.
Kelan Weiss’ game improved so much as he complemented Hayden Cooper. The two of them pulled down rebounds and Kelan took control of the post.
It was the third quarter where Moapa took full control of the game. The Pirates scored 19 points to Virgin Valley 10 and had a ten point lead to start the 4th.
The quarter had no field goals made for either team. It became a free throw contest. Moapa had a ten point lead. Virgin Valley had eight attempts from the line and made all eight. Moapa had gone 2 for 6 to that final minute. Well 2 for 8 if you count the two one and one’s they missed the front end of.
Virgin Valley got as close as 4 down with one minute to go. Thompson then made two; and two more; to push the lead back to 8. Cooper finished off the Dawgs with two of his own with :13 and that was it.
The final 47-37 the win, the region title and back to the state tournament.
The Pirates will get the north’s 3 seed South Tahoe at 4 P.M. at the Orleans Arena. Lowry, the North’s top seed and Sparks the 2nd seed will play in the first semi-final. The winners meet for the title at 12:45 on Saturday at the Orleans Arena.
South Tahoe is led by Peter Pielpet-Strayer who averages 14 points per game. They love the half court trap. They upset Dayton at Dayton who was 20-5 and had a 14 game home win streak in the play in game for state. South Tahoe tied Truckee for the 2nd spot in the Mont Rose Region. They beat Truckee in the tie breaker to qualify for play in game against Dayton. Their record is 12-11.
Sparks is the defending champion a record of 13-5. The Rail roaders beat Elko 47-44 in the play in game. They are the Lahontan Region Champions.
Lowry was the state runner up from last year. Their record is 16-7 and 10-0 in League play. Sterling Snow is their leading scorer at 14 points a game. This region was the weakest. Lowry won the Ruby Mountain Championship.
